Personal Finance Advice

When thoughts turn to getting more cash every month, many people assume that they’ll have to take a second job. That may be true. If your financial situation is dire or if you have your heart set on some big ticket item, a second job may be the only way to get to the necessary [...]

I love this idea as a way to physical show what it’s like to earn minimum wage in the US today. Blake Fall-Conroy put together a machine that dispenses pennies and allows any person to work for minimum wage.

The concept is simple. An individual cranks a handle on the machine and pennies drop out [...]

It’s not often that a company wants to give you money instead of relieve it from you on Black Friday, but that is exactly what ING is offering for today only. If you sign up for their Orange Electric checking account, they will give you $121. The $121 number comes from the amount the average [...]

My last “real job” where I worked full-time for someone else was a mess. There was sexual harassment, bullying, unfair hours and demands, and all sorts of other foolishness going on. I was young and hadn’t yet saved up a large emergency fund, so leaving wasn’t possible unless I had another job lined up. Not [...]

Now that I have made the decision to start a business, what next? Doing a good job in one’s chosen field usually requires entirely different skill sets and knowledge than running a business. Accounting software? Tracking time? Building a website? Forming a corporation? The list of tasks is lengthy and can be [...]

After close to thirty years of working for other people, I have finally decided to hang out a shingle on my own. For some people, self-employment is a natural extension of who they are. For me, as I insist on the possibility of great success in anything I undertake, the decision to go [...]

When people find out that I’m a professional blogger, they either ask me what the hell that means or how is it possible to make enough money to live on by blogging. Many people seem to think that there must be some hidden secret to easy success that only a few know and that is [...]

By Terry G.
I love free money. I thought that others would also love free money, but that doesn’t always seem to be the case. There is a lot of free money out there that almost anyone can claim with a bit of effort, but most people don’t.
Banks: I remember when I was growing up, [...]

What was former congressman and pro baseball player Wilmer Mizell’s nickname? Who played the part of the piano player at Rick’s Cafe American in Casablanca? How did the ancient Egyptians mourn a dead cat? I love questions like this and have spent countless hours over the past four decades reading the backs [...]

By Brad H.
Have you ever seen those guys on the side of the road at freeway off-ramps or busy cross streets holding up a sign that reads something like “No Job. Hungry. Will work for food or money” and wondered who they were? At least some of them are like me because I was there [...]

By Linda D.
I’m able to sock away an average of $700 a month by sitting around. I wish I could say that I was bright enough to have come up with the way to sit and earn money, but the reality is that it kind of fell into my lap. This is what happened.
A friend [...]

Whenever I see an article on ways to make additional money, crafting and selling the items on Etsy.com or at local craft fairs is always included. But is crafting really a good way to make money?
I became interested in this question when I visited the home of an acquaintance. Crafting supplies were spread over most [...]

By Leslie R.
One of the most difficult things for me to do was build up my emergency fund. It seemed that I lived every two weeks paycheck to paycheck and there was no buffer when emergencies did happen. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to build up an emergency fund.
Another problem [...]

Lately I’ve been speaking to a friend who doesn’t know what to do about her job. She hates it. She hates the work, the boss, and her coworkers. The environment is toxic, with a lot of sexual harassment and verbal abuse. She desperately wants to quit but can’t because she needs the money. She knows [...]

I like to walk and when I walk, I am always on the lookout for coins. I don’t really consciously do this — it has become a habit over the years. What I do know is that most years I add over $100 to my savings (you would need to keep over $10,000 in your [...]

Every so often, hard work and dedication really do pay off in fabulous ways! Recently, Mary Hannaby, a 57 year old English housewife, hit the jackpot while metal detecting in a field that she had searched many times over the years. An avid treasure hunter for the past 7 years, Mrs. Hannaby found [...]

Yesterday, I got a dog. We named him “Peter’s Lucky Biscuit” and he is adorable. That’s him in the photo to the left. Biscuit is a pure bread labradoodle. We had to get a pure breed because we needed a hypoallergenic breed that would be more likely to be compatible with [...]

I truly love to write. I enjoy self-expression. I enjoy giving advice. I enjoy the feedback I receive from my readers. I love the power that the written word has to motivate, to intrigue and to inspire. We all have stories worth telling or knowledge and experience worth sharing. With a [...]

Who couldn’t use some extra money these days? I’m guessing you have a skill that people would pay you for, and freelancing can be a great way to earn some extra cash.
What work can you do as a freelancer? Take into account what you like to do in your spare time. Do you love yard [...]

Many people are totally dependent on their (or their spouse’s) “regular” job for all of their income. This is a risky proposition even in good times, but especially now that jobs are being cut left and right. When that one job goes, all of the necessary income goes with it, leaving the person with no [...]